The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) is delivering ‘Driving Better Health’, an initiative to support health and wellbeing for truck drivers across Australia. The project funding was announced in August by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack and Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport Scott Buchholz.
The project is taking the health assessments to the driver through the Heart of Australia trucks, making it more accessible for operators to take part in the health assessments.
“The Driving Better Health project aims at increasing health awareness for heavy vehicle drivers by providing the direct benefit of a comprehensive health and wellness assessment; including heart, diabetes, mental health and other lifestyle indicators,” said Gary Mahon, QTA CEO. “Kicking off at the annual Frasers Livestock Transport ‘Yarn at the Yard’ on December 18 in Warwick is a great way to launch the project and we encourage all local heavy vehicle operators to sign up for an assessment.
“In 2021, we will be on the road delivering these free health assessments that normally cost $165 per person, fully funded by the NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the Federal Government. We will be offering more health assessments in key locations in Queensland as well as Sydney and Melbourne in 2021.”
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said the funding was part of $5.5 million in safety grants being distributed across the country in 2020-21 to improve heavy vehicle safety.
“We know there is a correlation between an increased risk of vehicle incidents and driver health and wellbeing. Heavy vehicle safety is everyone’s responsibility and through local safety programs and the efforts of organisations like the QTA we can make our roads safer for all road users,” said Sal.
The launch will commence from 8:00am on December 18 and in attendance will be Assistant Minister Buccholz, QTA CEO Gary Mahon and NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto as well as other key project stakeholers.
Heavy vehicle drivers from any industry sector who will be in the Warwick area on Friday 18th can book directly between 1:00-4:00pm using, or clicking on, the QR Code:
Coincidentally, another Frasers organisation is also involved in an initiative around truck driver health. Frasers Property Industrial in Australia has announced its partnership with not-for-profit charitable foundation Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds (HHTS). HHTS is a new not-for-profit charitable foundation established to create and deliver Australia’s first single national mental health strategy for the road transport and logistics industries. Its core objective is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of every worker across the broader road transport, logistics and supply chain sectors.
“There are significant challenges for the road transport, warehousing and logistics industry to face together,” said Lachlan Benson, interim CEO for Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds Foundation. “With support from companies such as Frasers Property Industrial there’s the potential to make long-lasting and impactful change for our industry nation-wide.”
